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Would like to get a small light spot for use on helmet as a addition to solarstorm x2 on bars.
Anyone got any recommendations? Trying to work out how much output is needed as a supplemental light. Would 200 lumens in spot light be enough? Also want it lightweight, don't like a massive lump of ally strapped to my helmet.
Don't want to spend a fortune. Just want a bit extra for off road so I can see through corners on twisty woodland trails.
200 not enough imo.
Lezyne Macro is 400 on high, it's ok but not brilliant on trails.
A good match for the x2 (assuming bright white, not the new neutral white leds) is this which is super light, runs on a single 18650 and fits the Exposure helmet mount. 2600 made up Chinese lumens probably = about 700, it's significantly brighter than the Lezyne.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350800657075?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Just got one and on turbo it is amazing.
Very warm light too
Joystick, yeah it's more than you need, but when your solarstorm battery packs in 20 mins in to a ride*, despite being fully charged. You'll be happy of a spare few lumens on your head!
*this has happened more than once to me!
alpkit prism 550 under 40 quid, 550 lumens,130m throw down the trail, 3 hour burn time on full chat, great beam pattern and you can get the exposure spark rechargeable batteries for 11 quid with the charger to go with it, lovely machined aluminium more than tip top. take the headband off and it sits on the top of a helmet with velcro strap and is lower profile than my joystick.
Niterider Luminas and the Lezyne Superdrives come up in sales and are good helmet lights. I got a 700 lumen lumina for £55 last year just as the new years models came out. The cateye volt800 just came out so the 700 would be worth looking for. I have a volt 1200 which is effective and again a new 1600 version has replaced it so bound to be some offers on that. Some of these lights don't come with helmet mounts but usually they are pretty cheap.
*Not a Joystick* the new beam from mk9 onwards is too floody for proper off-road use.
The Diablo, or Axis would be much better.
I like floody. Let's you use your peripheral vision as well. I guess that relies on it being bright enough though. (2100 lumen Gemini Olympia here).
Current Joystick is a slightly floody 800 lumens so plenty bright with most bar lights. I am using it with new MaxxD, which, when on boost (2250 lumens) on fast bits totally drowns the Joystick. However on slower twisty techy stuff it's a great combination.
Gemini xera flashlight in exposure helmet mount. Good deals from Merlin at the moment too.
I too am on the hunt for a helmet light. I like the Exposure range but am put off after ripping a Joystick off once with a low branch. I know it's got a lanyard but it broke the bracket and they do protrude a bit.
Any recommendations for a lower profile or front of helmet fitting light ? The Alpkit Prism seems ok but would be happier with a few more lumens.
I normally run a gloworm X2 on the helmet but last night I used an Exposure Sirius which was just about okay. As with all things, once you experience decent power it's hard to go back. My advice is to get something decent. The X1 is cheaper/smaller and will mount at the front of the helmet rather than the top like an exposure.
I've just added a Lumen 800 from MTBBatteries to my helmet - it's more than enough for most situations and the battery pack either sits on the back of you helmet, or in your back pack if you want things light weight. Nice powerful spot with a bit of spread - perfect with a bar mounted light
I use a Solarstorm on the helmet with the battery in the rucksack.
My bar light is miles more powerful, but I usually run that on 1/3 power and rely on the helmet light.
[i]I use a Solarstorm on the helmet with the battery in the rucksack.[/i]
I was doing that last year, with a battery from smudge, but a cable light on a helmet can be a bit of a pain. Cable catches on things sometimes when you move your head and it's just a bit annoying. Bought a joystick and it's so much better to be cable free.
you can route the cable through the air vents, and run inside the helmet shell. You still get a cable out of the back of the shell which is occasionally annoying but workable.
The Gloworm X1 is a really good choice, it uses a single 950 lumen optic which you can change from spot, flood or super spot optics and uses a go pro style helmet bracket. It's very light weight and uses a separate switch to use the light or program the option on the light.
My helmet (Bell Super 2R) has a GoPro mount on it so I spent ages looking for a GoPro mounted light.
I ended up buying this:
http://www.magicshineuk.co.uk/featured-products/mytinysun-folkslight-2000-lumens-integrated-battery-designed-and-built-in-germany.html
It's a little heavy but because it's all in one it's easy to attach and detach without any cables. I did a night ride last week and it's brilliant. I've set it on one of the advanced modes that can't go into 2000 lumens on purpose. It'll go to 1500 and that's plenty.
The battery was still on 75% remaining after a two hour + ride.
The only downside is that the promised end of 2014 software update to activate the accelerometer functionality STILL isn't out and it's the end of 2015.
However, still a great light. I was impressed. It has a spot and a spread beam so it does a great job on it's own.
I also found that the lowest setting (which will last 7 hours) was plenty enough for climbing.
I've put last year's Chinese eBay spot on the bars with a 6 cell battery on my stem.
The combination worked really well.
Cable doesn't bother me, I zip tie the cable to the back of my lid, then pop battery in a rear pocket of a cycling top (I like to night ride without a back pack on).
I find this preferable to a slightly heavier all in one torch type light.
Solarstorm X2s are hardly heavy, and pretty cheap.
Why not another one of those? You can always turn it down if it's too bright.
Just saw this and remembered this thread.